Welcome to Gaia! ::

With the delivery out of the way, Florian was squatting behind the counter to make sure all the ribbons and rolls of cellophane were sorted how he liked when he heard the small bell jingle to let him know someone came out.

It had been an uneventful day besides that, something he figured was due to the poor weather that was hanging around far too long if you asked for his opinion. Smoothing his apron as he stood, he was surprised to see Angel. It wasn’t like he’d given them the address of his shop, if anything he hadn’t been sure how best to say hi via text.

But to hear bits about someone appreciating something and then a pile of other things, he wondered if they meant plants like they’d mentioned at the cafe. Was it their girlfriend maybe? If it was that made things a bit easier for him to manage but then why were they so flirty? Were they just a flirty guy?

It was a lot to think about as he coughed slightly to let Angel know he was there. “Welcome to Baumgartner’s Garden, do you need help finding anything?” Erring on the more customer service side of things first, he didn’t want to interrupt more than he had to when it came to customers even if he sort of knew this one.

Keeping his hands busy with the sorting he was doing on the counter, he moved things over as Angel leaned on it. The wood creaked, as it always did, which made him thankful he’d gotten the glass counter replaced when he took over the shop.

“Oh, I didn’t know she came here. I get a lot of customers some days, especially other students for little potted succulents or cacti. I think it’s really the only thing they let students have in the dorms, that and those little beta fish in bowls. But I feel like those aren’t happy at being in such a small space.” With a frown, he moved over the roll of new sticker labels and rolled up some of the bouquet sleeves to put in the holder on his other side. Everything would be easily accessible which was great, something he wished his parents had done but with them both working at the same time it made a bit more sense as to why they hadn’t.

“O-oh I mean. They might have seen my mother maybe too, she visits with my father from time to time to check in every few months and bring some things back from their adventure across Europe.” Moving some of the loose strands of his bangs behind an ear, he kept his eyes down as he looked over the invoice of stock for now.

“Yes, with nice aquascaping and greenery for them to hide in. I’ve been thinking of one maybe for the shop but I’m still not sure.” It wasn’t as if he wasn’t here every day nearly but he still worried about not being able to properly take care of it or if all the commotion of customers might be stressful for the little thing.

“O-oh… thank you.” Trying to shrug the compliment off as carefully as he could, he focused on what they were saying about plants and how they’d lost a lot of them. Considering they’d been succulents and cacti he half wondered if it was due to over-watering and root rot considering they didn’t need much water at all and he had most of the small pots here set up with good irrigation.

“If you have trouble with succulents, you could try bamboo? They don’t need much and grow fairly well with little input?” Moving around the counter to the main part of the shop, he looked over the options as he drifted down one of the side walls, keeping focused on the various plants he had ready for adoption. He’d been pruning them as needed and keeping up on them so they all would be in the best help once purchased.

“Water lilies need a lot more space than I can manage here, they get as large as I am tall.” Thinking of the ones his mother showed him when they’d gone to one of the larger botanical gardens in summer here in the city. There was a whole tranquility area with large waterways full of flowers and lilies. It was always nice to go with his parents but he hadn’t had the time since taking things over.

Looking back at the bamboo, he picked one that was thriving after he’d pruned it slightly. If it had a better start then hopefully it would last through to summer at least. Part of him wondered if Angel’s sister was better with plants or just got whatever she thought might be unkillable without really knowing. It wasn’t something he necessarily hated but he did wish more people would give plants the time and effort they needed in order to do well.

Holding the one he’d thought might survive up to Angel for inspection, he really hoped he wouldn’t hear about them needing another one in the next week.